Description

Noteworthy Choice XF 1856-O Double Eagle

1856-O $20 XF45 PCGS. CAC. Aside from the non-collectible
pattern 1849 twenty, three mintmarked issues stand alone among
Liberty double eagles as the titans of the series. The dominant
force among Type Two pieces is the 1870-CC, the first double eagle
issue struck by Carson City and the rarest, a perennial favorite
among Old West gold collectors as well. The other two prominent
issues are a pair of antebellum New Orleans dates, the 1854-O and
1856-O. The two of them are oft-compared and the occasional
numismatic rivalry has been played up in various numismatic
publications.
To claim that the two issues are rare is an understatement.
Focusing on the 1856-O, just eight certification events are present
in the NGC Census Report and a mere 12 pieces are identified
in the PCGS Population Report; almost assuredly, there is
some overlap between the two sources of certified data, as well as
within them due to resubmissions. Add in a handful of impaired
examples, and an estimate of 20 to 30 survivors, as published by
Doug Winter in his Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint,
appears accurate. This is a slightly smaller pool of available
pieces than is known for the 1854-O, which holds true through most
grades, though in Mint State, the 1856-O actually offers a prospect
for owning an unworn example, unlike its earlier counterpart.
Further evidence of the 1856-O double eagle's rarity is offered by
a comment made by Doug Winter to the numismatic press. In the
January 28, 2008 edition of Coin World, he was quoted as
saying that a near-Mint representative of the issue, which he
encountered while acting as a liaison between a dealer and a
private collector, " ... was the first I have handled in a few
years." That Winter, one of the most widely acknowledged
authorities on (and one of the best-known dealers in) Southern
gold, would go years without coming into contact with an example is
perhaps the best contemporary illustration of its rarity.
Interestingly, the past year has been a "golden" opportunity for
the collector of the higher New Orleans denominations; not only did
the AU58 coin brokered by Winter change hands, but late October
2008 saw the Baltimore Collection specimen, a near-Mint
representative, sell at Heritage's Dallas auction. Both of those
pieces rank among the finest examples known; coins in less than
About Uncirculated have traded only infrequently in years past,
denying hundreds of New Orleans gold enthusiasts the opportunity to
own a comparatively affordable survivor from this issue's mintage
of just 2,250 pieces.
The present Choice XF survivor offers a chance to remedy that
situation. While lightly worn as expected, marks are few, and the
surfaces certainly are not "very heavily abraded," the way Winter
describes the issue at large. Strike is typical, with the usual
patches of weakness on the portrait and the eagle's outermost
feathers. The green-gold and yellow-gold surfaces show glimmers of
their original reflective luster, most notably on the reverse. A
small cluster of marks to the left of Liberty's nose are the only
flaws warranting specific mention. For one fortunate New Orleans
gold collector who has long coveted this king of the series, the
wait will end when this important lot is hammered down. Population:
2 in 45, 9 finer (11/08).(Registry
values: N10218) (NGC ID# 268Z, PCGS# 8918)